Together Forever
by GingaNinja1
Summary: Marlene and Denzel find a couple of things that Cloud would be interested in. Cloud x Aeris


Drabble #12: Photograph

Summary: Aeris was gone but Cloud would always remember her…

Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Characters and places belong to SquareEnix

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Cloud placed his head in his hands as his eyes scanned over the delivery sheets that lay spread across the table in front of him. Pencils, rubbers, and a calculator were also on the wooden worktop as he tried to work out the profits and costs that the business had gone through that year.

Tifa had gone out to meet Barret at the train station as the man was coming back to see Marlene at Christmas. Marlene and her best friend Denzel, who stayed with Cloud and Tifa, were upstairs but Cloud did not know what they were up to and to be honest, so long as nothing bad happened to them, he did not care.

"Hey, Cloud! Look what I found!" Marlene's voice called suddenly, startling Cloud out of his thoughts. A second later, the little brunette girl came racing through, holding something in her small hand. Denzel was close behind, a look of interest and confusion all his face.

Cloud gave a small sigh and pushed his hands through his hair, leaning back against the cushions of the sofa. Marlene hopped up next to him, literally bouncing with joy, a grin spread across her face.

"What is it?" he asked after a moment of silence. The girl smiled wider before she tilted her hand to reveal a photograph. Cloud blinked a little when he first saw it, sitting up again to take a better look. It was taken at Gold Saucer, the second time the group had went and they had all been happy. Standing on some crate at the back, tow hands on Vincent's shoulders, was Yuffie, a large grin on her face. Cloud smiled a little at Vincent's expression. He looked unimpressed with Yuffie's antics and had his arms folded, a small frown creasing his brows.

Next to him, was Barret, who just looked the same except, less angry. Cid was next and Cloud had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes as he noticed the small cigarette he was trying to hide behind Barret.

Nanaki was sitting directly in front of Cid, a look of wisdom on his face and the smallest of smiles creeping its way onto his mouth. Cait Sith was standing beside the fire wolf, waving and smiling merrily. It was before they had realised he had been the spy…

Then, it was Tifa who was also waving, her head tilted to the side and a small, delicate smile on her face. Her other arm was linked with the woman beside her, which really caught Cloud's attention. Aeris was the one out of all nine there who held the brightest smile, the most genuine. Cloud stared at her for a good moment, occasionally glancing at his younger self as he stood next to her(and rather close if he saw right!) with a sheepish expression on his face.

"I know who all these people are," Denzel said, frowning at the photo and pointing at everyone before his finger rested on Aeris.

"But who is she?"

"That's sister," Marlene replied proudly. Denzel frowned.

"You have a sister?"

"No, she's called sister just because…because she is," the girl answered irritably before turning back to Cloud and handing over another one.

"I also found this," she explained.

It was a just a small photo, this time with only two people in it. It was of Aeris and himself, leaning into each other and giving large, cheesy smiles to the camera. Her head rested on his shoulder and his leaned in close to her, a hand rested on her left arm, having wrapped around her shoulders. Cloud stared for a long minute. The photo was one of Aeris when she had no make-up on and her hair was a mess from the Gondola ride they had just finished. Yet, to Cloud she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.

"I'm going to put these back," Marlene chirped happily, reaching for the photo in his hand but Cloud moved it out of reach.

"Could I…keep this?" he asked slowly, turning to see the young girl's grin. She nodded, giving him a knowing look before she led Denzel back upstairs.

Cloud sighed and held the photo tenderly in his hand while his other reached into his pocket and pushed out his motorcycle keys, opening up the little photo frame attached to it, which was currently empty. He placed the photograph in, giving a small smile as he closed it up again.

"Now, we will always be together," he whispered softly to the air.

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End file.
